Schumer is having a hard time coming up with the votes. That doesn’t mean he won’t eventually, but if the GOP holds together they might be able to stop this.
Month: July 2010
Just You Ordinary Joes?
Citizens for Safety is pushing a video, purportedly featuring gun owners, to push Deval Patrick’s gun control agenda:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb0Tk-xEQ_Q[/youtube]
You can read more about these individuals here. We’re made to think they are just ordinary gun owning folk. Except the Chelan Brown was a Democratic candidate for state-rep at one point, one who was apparently known for plagiarizing portions of her web site from other candidates. She was also President of AWAKE, Inc, and has testified in favor of gun control. Jim Mathes is also a democratic activist who considered running for Mayor of New Bedford at one point.
In short, these aren’t ordinary gun owners. They are part of the Democratic political establishment in Massachusetts. They can’t win without deception.
UPDATE: Also notice the lack of eye and ear protection when she’s shooting. Did they have anyone involved in this venture who was actually a real shooter?
More Like a Right
Some folks are worried the Kansas legislature is treating carry more like a right, rather than a privilege. I should note, however, that I think making carrying while intoxicated a crime is constitutional, but some of provisions relating to the Kansas concealed carry requirements probably shouldn’t be. To me the main provision that would be unconstitutional is the breathalyzer requirement, which forces the surrendering your 4th and 5th Amendment rights in order to exercise your Second Amendment rights. We can do this with cars because operating a vehicle on the public roadways is not a right.
Wrong Target
The City of Columbus, Ohio seems to think the solution is to try harder, with vigor this time:
“Young people have access to weapons and they’re using those weapons and unfortunately we’ve tried a lot through the city. The mayor in the past, we’ve brought weapons in, we’ve had strike patrols, we’ve done many many things to try to remove them. But, as we’re constantly trying to do our work, there’s another element out there that is also doing their work and putting those guns on the street,” Tyson said.
They might want to think about trying to get the gang members who are carrying the guns off the street rather than take the guns off the street. Maybe if you actually locked these delinquents up you’d see crime drop. In what messed up world does it make sense to take away the tools and leave them on the street? If you catch a burglar trying to pry open a window with a crowbar, do you take his crowbar, shake your finger at him, and send him on his way? No, that would be insane. But such is the logic of gun prohibitionists.
Road Side Cameras
Governor Ed wants to use road side cameras in order to catch Insurance scofflaws. They’ll apparently read the license plate number and cross reference with insurance records. Anyone not having insurance gets a fine. Rendell bills it as a revenue generating measure.
I’m glad some people are fighting this. I’m against using fines as a revenue tool, especially when it involves putting cameras in public places.
Suing Bloggers
Some interesting commentary from an IP lawyer on the whole Righthaven thing. He doesn’t think their business model is viable either, and they won’t likely have any more success than RIAA did with their lawsuits. My main beef with Righthaven is not so much that they are defending their copyrights, but that they immediately resorted to a lawsuit without first trying to resolve the issue decently.
I would certainly hope if a copyright holder thinks I’ve gone over the Fair Use line, he or she at least has the decency to talk to me about it before slapping me with a lawsuit. I’d even take a Cease and Desist letter as being relatively polite in this regard.
Because Stevens Media LLC has decided to expand its relationship with Righthaven, I am blacklisting them. John Richardson has published a list of all Stevens Media holdings, for those interested in making sure they don’t get what ought not to be coming to them (traffic).
Brady Travel?
According to No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, the Bradys now have their own travel site. They are advertising it over on their own site too. As I am wont to do when it comes to our opponents, I did some digging. If you go to the BradyWorldTravel.com web site, you will notice that it redirects you to what is essentially a YTB Travel Affiliate. The site is run by an organization known as YTB International, which is a multi-level marketing firm, located out of Wood River, Illinois. Sounds like a swell bunch of guys to me:
California Attorney General Jerry Brown and former employees sued the company in early August, 2008, alleging it to be a pyramid scheme, among other claims. The Illinois Better Business Bureau and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined Brown in investigating the company.[20]
Brown sued the company for $25 million in early August 2008, charging unfair business practices, false advertising, and operating a “gigantic pyramid scheme that is immensely profitable to a few individuals on top and a complete rip-off for most everyone else”.[21] U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings showed that the company’s three creators earned more than $2 million in 2007, a dozen salespeople earned more than $800,000, and dozens earned more than $100,000.[11] Brown’s lawsuit indicates that 45,000 sales reps earned an average of about $90 in 2007 and of their 200,000 total agents, some 125,000 earned nothing and 37,000 earned less than $39.[11] On May 14, 2009, California authorities settled their suit with YTB for $1 million. As part of the settlement, YTB agreed to restructure, possibly hastening a transition to a franchise system. That same day, Madigan filed a similar suit in Illinois.[22] Brown said the agreement would put an end to the $450, $50 per month unprofitable personalized websites.[15]
Their Wikipedia page also notes that:
However by late 2008, YTB laid off 17 employees, a move that was part of a reorganization.[12] Later that year it announced plans to sell an office building and its corporate Learjet.[13] In 2008 the company’s revenues were $44.8 million.[14] YTB said its independent audit at the end of 2008 expressed “substantial doubt about our company’s ability to continue as a going concern”,[15] a sentiment the company itself later echoed.[16]
The company hit trouble spots in 2009, operating at a loss of $1.9 million for the first three months of the year. Revenue in that quarter dropped 49% to $21.8 million[15] and then to $18 million in the second quarter.[16] The company’s paying members also declined substantially in number, from a high in April 2008 of 138,000 to 60,414 in mid-2009.[17] In 2009 YTB also sold RezConnect, by then its technology and booking arm, to two of RezConnect’s officers. Under the terms of the sale, YTB would indemnify the new owners for any YTB-related liabilities.[18]
Sounds like they are a perfect match for the Bradys, since their future seems to be just about as bright, and their product is a lie. John Richardson notes, “I guess when donations are down you’ll do just about anything to stay afloat.” How right you are, because that would seem to involve jumping into partnership with people who are highly questionable, at best, and then hawking it to their presumably unaware members.
Update on Batemen et al v. Perdue
From No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money. Bateman is Alan Gura’s case in North Carolina challenging their emergency powers law which makes guns illegal during times of emergency. It’s a good update. No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money is is a new blog, only a few months old, but the content has been pretty good from what I’ve seen so far. He also notes that Benson has had September 1st set as a hearing date, but the judge assigned doesn’t look particularly appealing.
Public Shooting Range Scenario
We’ve been discussing what appears to be a slight trend toward robberies, including one murder, happening at Pennsylvania Game Commission public ranges. There’s a few things about the latest case involving a murder motivated by robbery that I think are interesting to ponder. Here’s what I would think:
- The guy was shot from a distance, meaning he probably didn’t see it coming. My feeling is that it’s next to impossible to defend against someone willing to kill you for your gun — or rather someone who has made a conscious decision he will murder to get it.
- The guy probably met his killer, who would have needed to get close to get a look at the gun. I can’t imagine if you were going to commit murder to get a gun you wouldn’t want to make sure it was worth enough to justify the risk. I know criminals think differently than normal people, but most of them still understand risk and reward. I would also wager the murderer knows something about guns.
- It’s going to be very difficult, unfortunately, for the police to track down this bozo. There’s unlikely to be any witnesses. Their best bet is if he tries to fence the rifle, which I would imagine he would, because the motivation would presumably be money. The rifle is unusual enough that it’s going to be hard for him to fence discretely.
- The buddy system seems dubious in value if this guy is shooting from a distance as a sniper. Your buddy is unlikely to notice where the shot comes from, and will probably end up just as dead as you if he doesn’t act quickly, and his actions are unlikely to help you. If this murderer is posing as another shooter, a buddy would likely be a significant deterrent, since the shooter would pretty immediately be under fire from your buddy after shooting you (notice you still probably get shot)
- I’m unsure about whether he’d have been shooting as a sniper from concealment. It would seem easier to show up at the range with a gun as a shooter, and wait for the guy to go downrange. Reason being you can get a look at the gun, and keep a good eye on your victim. Downside is if someone else shows up, there’s a witness who saw you.
- I believe if this guy gets away with it, he will do it again. You have to be pretty twisted to do something like this. The money will be good, and this bozo obviously has no regard for someone’s life at all. Hopefully the unusual nature of the weapon will get him caught when he fences it.
All in all this is a very scary situation, because I can’t see an easy way to defend against it. You can carry to the range, but I’m not sure that’s going to help you. Certainly can’t hurt, but this robber/murderer has a pretty scary MO. I would imagine the only way to defend against it would be to have police constantly watching and patrolling around the range. Maybe this is one of those cases where having body armor and a trauma plate would be a significant advantage! Perhaps the Mall Ninjas are smarter than we thought!
DISCLOSE Alive Again
Schumer is pushing the bill in the Senate, even agreeing to preserve the infamous NRA exemption. But it looks like the unions aren’t going to be happy, because they lose theirs.